Executive Director of the National Film and Video Censors Board, Dr Shaibu Husseini, says the regulation on money rituals and smoking does not aim to stifle creativity but to boost the healthy growth of the movie industry and society.
THE National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) has not become a ‘morality’ police and does not plan to become one soon, its Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Shaibu Husseini, has affirmed.
Rather than censorship, the Board will encourage the growth of creativity in the entertainment industry, upskill its staff for improved performances, and shift its operations towards classification for the industry’s overall development.
At an interaction with editors and senior journalists in Lagos on Sunday, June 3, the NFVCB’s chief executive gave a detailed background to the Prohibition of Money Ritual, Ritual Killing, Tobacco, Tobacco Products, Nicotine Product Promotion and Glamorization Display in Movies, Musical Videos and Skits Regulations 2024, which has been misinterpreted and denounced by some mischievous persons.
While the regulation, awaiting an official gazette from the Federal Government, only aims to end the glamourisation of smoking in films and ensure that tobacco companies don’t sponsor scenes that display their products, some mischief makers deliberately misinterpreted it to mean a wholesale ban on smoking and money rituals. They further alleged that the NFVCB, under the artist, academic and film critic, was out to stifle creativity.
The misrepresentation arose from a workshop organised by the Board and the Akinbode Oluwafemi-led Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) held in Enugu in May. There, Husseini disclosed the existence of the regulation and gave an update on its progress.
“The Minister of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy, Hannatu Musawa, under Section 65 of the NFVCB Act 2004, has approved the regulation. The Minister has approved the Prohibition of Money Ritual, Ritual Killing, Tobacco, Tobacco Products, Nicotine Product Promotion and Glamorization Display in Movies, Musical Videos and Skits Regulations 2024. We have also forwarded the approved copy to the Federal Ministry of Justice for Gazette. The film industry occupies a central position in the entertainment and creative sector, and we must continue to place the highest premium on the film industry’s progress. The NFVCB supports smoke-free movies and Nollywood. Therefore, we seek your collaboration to develop creative content that discourages smoking and promotes positive health messages,” he said.
Pro-creativity
But at Sunday’s conversation, which was also attended by Oluwafemi, Husseini, who had made earlier clarifications, further assured that he would never suppress creativity as a performing artist.
Husseini explained that his decision to work with CAPPA on the regulation arose from his experience as an adjunct lecturer. “Most of the projects that my undergraduate and master’s students are doing are mostly influence studies, and I discovered that the regulation CAPPA drew my attention to during a courtesy visit is something we must take very seriously. I studied the rules and what was happening in other parts of the world. I looked at the industry, and as an artist, I don’t think anybody can stop me from expressing myself.
The DG, who cited an example of a skit showing a seven-year-old boy sent to buy a lit cigarette and who pulled a drag from it, said filmmakers must take responsibility for all their content. He added that censorship was initially in the bill’s phrasing, but he approached the Minister and requested that it be changed because, globally, censorship is associated with dictatorship.
“We must take responsibility as filmmakers. Once the artist takes responsibility and does something that does not undermine national security, does not corrupt or injure people, we will not need to say, go and cut this.”
Husseini also addressed why filmmakers need to stop glamorising money rituals in movies and added that one of his priorities as NFVCB’s helmsman is strengthening its monitoring capacity to tackle this.
Healthy screen
“Our challenge is monitoring capacity, but I have gone to my Minister, who is helping us. I had promised that we would move from analogue to digital to monitor films and work with CAPPA to see how we can get equipment. Give me smartphones and laptops for my staff so that they can continue to work at home after closing so that we can have a healthy screen.
“The idea is for us to have a healthy screen, and we are committed. This is about every one of us, our children and their future. I did not ban smoking scenes. I did not ban ritual scenes. There are aspects of our culture that you need to display. Suppose you have to play a necessary scene for historical accuracy, educational purposes, and to correct a negative lifestyle. In that case, you must warn people that they are not lifestyles to emulate.”
Reiterating that the regulation has come to stay, with the gazette the only remaining step, he reiterated that there’s nothing anti-creativity about it. “I cannot be on the Census Board as an artist and suppress creativity. I commit to a Census Board that will move entirely from censorship to classification. I commit to a Census Board that will move from the present analogue classification stage to the digitised stage and be responsive to itself, society, stakeholders, and the federal government.”
Also speaking at the meeting, CAPPA’s Oluwafemi emphasised the importance of the National Stakeholders Engagement in Enugu, referencing the unveiling of the Regulations 2024 and the Code of Practice, voluntarily signed by Nollywood stakeholders.
“One essential thing that was not given wide publicity happened in Enugu. There was also another document called the Code of Practice. The Code of Practice is a voluntary commitment by movie stakeholders to say, ‘We are pledging that we will comply with the intent and spirit of Smoke-Free Nollywood. About 51 major movie practitioners and associations in Nigeria signed that Code of Practice, and we have their signatures documented,” Oluwafemi said.
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